Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, cell 202-904-7614,
mclarty@greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene@gp.org
Greens urge amendment to food safety bills, citing need to protect
family farms and organic farming
• Green Party Speakers Bureau: Green leaders available to speak on
environmental policy http://www.gp.org/speakers
• "The First 100 Days: What Would a Green Administration Look Like?"
(video and text) http://www.gp.org/first100
WASHINGTON, DC -- Green Party leaders voiced concerns about the "Food
Safety Modernization Act" (HR 875 and S 425) and, while supporting the
goal of food safety and farm inspections, urged amendments in the bill
to protect small and family farms, farmers' markets, and organic farming.
"America needs national food safety guarantees in the age of genetic
modification, misleading labeling, food-borne illnesses and
contaminants, especially pesticides. But the 'one size fits all'
approach of the bills endangers family farms and local, organic
agriculture. Without amendments, the result of HR 875 and S 425 may be
the demise of small farms and organic agriculture, increased profits and
the expansion of giant agri-businesses," said Nancy Allen, farmer and
member of the Maine Green Independent Party.
"Rather than crushing protocols and penalties, we call for regulation
that ensures food safety by working with family farms, farmers markets,
and similar small businesses and promotes the selling of locally,
organically, and sustainably grown produce," Ms. Allen added.
Greens noted that the bills do not address the problems of the large
corporate farms: poor working conditions, limitations on fast marketing
because of large quantities of produce, long-distance markets, overuse
of chemicals, petroleum dependence, and lack of quality, nutrition,
taste, and freshness.
Recent breakdowns in food safety have been the result of major corporate
farming practices that fail to control pathogens, because of indequate
regulatory oversight caused by the influence of agricultural monopolies
on state and national agencies responsible for protecting consumers.
Greens said that all farms should be held to strict standards and
undergo inspections, but warned that the cost of paperwork and oversight
protocols would be prohibitive to small farms and would ultimately harm
consumers if small farms were subjected to the same requirements as huge
agribusiness farms.
The Green Party's national platform advocates "legislation that assists
new farmers and ranchers, that promotes widespread ownership to small
and medium-sized farms and ranches, and that revitalizes and repopulates
rural communities and promotes sustainable development and stewardship"
(http://www.gp.org/platform/2004/ecology.html#753970).
See also "Food Safety Hits the Fan: Regulatory Action, Inaction and
Over-reaction and the Effects on Small Scale Growers" by Steve Gilman,
Northeast Organic Farm Association - Interstate Council Policy
Coordinator (http://www.nofa.org/policy/leafygreens.php).